She glanced down first, then looked up, her
arms folded across her bosom. It was a pose as unconsciously taken
as that of a bird, and the grace of it went straight to the hearts
of those below.
She turned about to descend, and for the first time saw that Rene
had followed her. His face was beaming.
"What a girl you are!" he exclaimed, in a tone of exultant
admiration. "Never was there another like you!"
Alice walked quickly past him without speaking; for down in the
space where some women were huddled aside from the crowd, looking
on, she had seen little Adrienne Bourcier. She made haste to
descend. Now that her impulsively chosen enterprise was completed
her boldness deserted her and she slipped out through a
dilapidated postern opposite the crowd. On her right was the
river, while southward before her lay a great flat plain, beyond
which rose some hillocks covered with forest. The sun blazed
between masses of slowly drifting clouds that trailed creeping
fantastic shadows across the marshy waste.
Alice walked along under cover of the slight landswell which then,
more plainly marked than it is now, formed the contour line of
hummock upon which the fort and village stood. A watery swale
grown full of tall aquatic weeds meandered parallel with the
bluff, so to call it, and there was a soft melancholy whispering
of wind among the long blades and stems.
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